2022 Year 8 parents support group

Following as DD will be going into Y8. Hopefully it will be ‘low stress’ as described by PP but a little worried, as for me Y8 ( or ‘second year’ as we called it - I’m old!) was was easily my least favourite year at secondary school.

Your DS2 sounds exactly the same as mine! Also hoping that year 8 brings more confidence and getting a bit more involved.

Will join, as I have a ds starting y8, as well as an older one starting year 10. And yes I can agree with the above, I completely understand why year 9 drive teachers spare!

DS2 is very young (age, size and interests) in his year, but settled in well to year 7 and made nice friends despite my concerns, and was able to hold his own with some of the more obnoxious ones. Hoping he’ll enjoy not being the youngest year any more, and spread his wings in getting more involved in some of the things on offer.

Pastoral worker here. Year 8 is a smooth year. They’ve done their transition, hopefully settled in and made friends and no looming exams on the horizon.

My sons just heading into year 8 and all seems calm.

Year 9 though? ….. well that’s another story 🤦‍♀️. Year 9s are massive twats. I do love them though I promise 😂.

Yes, good idea - I have a DS going into yr 8. I hope it’s a mostly stress free year though his school does a 3 year KS3 so will be picking options in March which could be interesting…..

Adding as I have a DD about to start Y8. Good idea for a thread!

I said it was a low stress year,
Year 7 is stressful as they are starting a new school,

Year 9 appears stressful (I don't have a Yr 9 of my own yet) because the vast majority of students are in the middle of puberty with everything that goes with it, I always find the behaviour in this year group harder to manage in class. At home students are finding their own feet and want independence whilst still being a child, for some children their dating relationships become much more serious.

Year 10 behaviour in class tends to improve but there are still friendship issues and challenging parental boundaries at home.

Year 11 students are stressed as they suddenly realize they have their big exams and they do actually matter for what they want to do next.

Mental health issues tend to rear their head during puberty and I believe for boys as they start later the peak tends to be when they are around university age.

Puberty also makes things alot more difficult for children who are neuro diverse but they appear to settle down towards the end of High school.

My DS is going into Y8. He just turned 12 least week. He's in his last year of prep school though, so not at 'big school' yet. I'm hoping for a nice year- being at the top of the school with entrance exams finished (although scholarships still to go), putting on plays and playing cricket.

I will be so, so sad at the end though. 😔

I was the one who said stress free. Maybe that wasn't fair. It can be a bit of a 'lost' year if you don't watch out. They aren't shiny new y7s, aren't choosing options, and aren't doing GCSEs. Some can take their foot off the pedal behaviour or work wise. I guess I just meant there are no intrinsic stresses for y8 (unless your school does a 3 year KS4).

I am just popping in as I don’t have a DC going into Year 8. But am interested in the posts about Year 8 being relatively low stress. My DD has just finished Year 10. Year 8 was a very difficult year for her with her mental health. My DS has just finished Year 8 and his behaviour took a nosedive compared to Year 7. Not looking forward to Year 9 for him going by @Singleandproud’s post!

Adding myself on as I have a DD going into Y8 too. This thread could be very useful - thanks!

Great advice @Singleandproud
I'm looking forward to hopefully less fall outs from old primary mates etc and a more settled year. My DD has adhd so whilst she seems ok, she emotionally immature which does concern me. I suspect her first relationship will be with a girl not a boy.

My DD is also in year 8.

I teach at a local secondary and year 8 is generally a low stress year (before the hell that is Yr 9). They should be settled in their new school now and encouraged to get involved in drama, sport, science clubs etc it will help build friendships and participation in these groups starts to dwindle in year 9 as the academic work gets trickier.

Friendship groups tend to develop away from the core Primary school friends they tend to cling to at the beginning of Yr 7. Friendship issues tend to rear the heads in this year groups particularly amongst girls who can get nasty.

Keep a tight look on what's going on in their social media, and a reminder (again) not to send inappropriate pictures which is scarily common despite the children knowing not to but in Yr 8 many start their first relationships.

Is often not item!!

My dd found starting year 7 quite exciting and made a good group of friends. She always finds there are 1 or 2 girls who make mean comments/go off and finds this hard (I think due to what happened in year 6). She seems to get on well with people/is pretty sociable/ item hanging out with friends. I’m trying to build her resilience so she finds it easier to cope when people a mean/exclude her (low level eg pass notes to each other and leave her out even tho she sits between the girls).

Great idea for a thread. My DS is also starting year 8 this year and I’m pleased to hear it’s considered a stress free year- here’s hoping!!

Good idea to start this thread! My dd is at a London all-girls school. Year 6 was challenging for her with being ostracised from her friendship group. She has a good group of friends now (in and outside of school) but things are still a bit up and down when at school. So complicated growing up! Hope year 8 is a good year with not too much drama 🤞🤞🤞How did your dd find year 7 WhatTheFuckingHell?

You may want to ask for this to be in Secondary Education, (you will find similar threads there, though often y8 is a relatively 'stress free' year).